Mer de Glace, in the Valley of Chamonix

J. M. W. Turner, ca. 1815 (formerly dated ca. 1803)

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Artist: J. M. W. Turner (British, 1775–1851)
Medium: Watercolor, graphite, gum, scraping out, and stopping out on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Size: Sheet: 27 3/4 x 41 inches (70.5 x 104.1 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

During his continental tour in 1802, Turner’s main focus was to reach the sublime natural landscapes of the Alps. Among these were the Mer de Glace, France’s largest glacier. The sketches he made there formed the basis for this watercolor, a tour de force of painterly accomplishment. Turner conjures up the precipitous character of the mountainous landscape by arranging the composition on a sharp diagonal.

Different brush, paint, pen, and scraper effects create remarkably realistic renditions of natural textures and patterns. Carefully judged exaggerations of form and line intensify the image’s emotional effect, as seen in the sinuous trunks of the blasted pines that grow on the valley’s edge; the shifting banks of clouds that surround the jagged peaks; and the frozen vastness of the glacier itself. The result is a breathtaking vision of nature’s power at its most overwhelming.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.